Rainstorm floodwaters claim 1 victim in Yucca Valley
A man described by survivors as elderly was found dead inside a vehicle that was covered by rushing storm waters and flipped upside down in a wash Saturday evening in Yucca Valley, authorities said.
There were several calls for swift-water rescues to the San Bernardino County Fire Department during the storm, most of which turned out to be unoccupied vehicles, spokesman Jeremy Kern said. But there also were trapped people and rescues, including ones in Yucca Valley and the city of San Bernardino.
In the fatal incident, two others escaped the overturned vehicle on their own, before the arrival of San Bernardino County Department’s Medic Engine 41 at 5:30 p.m. Firefighters reported the vehicle was in a wash near Barron Drive and Yucca Mesa Road in the desert community. The survivors reported a third man, described to firefighters as an elderly male, was still inside the vehicle.
Because of the force of the flood waters and the extended time the car had been submerged, firefighters said an in-water search of the vehicle was too dangerous.
Fire personnel searched downstream in case the man had somehow freed himself.
At 9:30 p.m., the San Bernardino County Sheriff contacted firefighters to say decreased waters had allowed them to remove the car, and the man was found inside. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:01 p.m., the San Bernardino County Coroner’s office said.
The man’s name will be released once his identity is confirmed, the coroner said. The Sheriff’s Department is investigating how the vehicle was swept into the wash, Kern said Sunday.
Helicopter rescue
The helicopter rescue took place along the same wash and half a mile away from the Yucca Mesa Road and Barron Drive incident, firefighters said.
A vehicle had attempted to cross a roadway and been pushed into the flash flood at about 6:15 p.m. The car was near Paradise Park, which fronts Barron Drive. While the windows were fogged, firefighters could see movement inside the vehicle.
A patrol helicopter with a swift-water rescue specialist was sent to the scene. The one person inside the vehicle was rescued, treated at the scene by paramedics, then taken to a hospital for evaluation.
The rescue helicopter had to dodge power lines and fight the rain and 40 mph winds, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Aviation Unit tweeted.
Yucca Vly-while dodging power lines and fighting the rain with 40 MPH winds, our desert patrol crew along with a member of our swift water/dive team rescued an elderly male trapped in his car in rushing water. Victim hypothermic, but alive and safe. Press release to follow. pic.twitter.com/SoOsJbpnXp
— Sheriff’s Aviation (@SBCSDAviation) February 3, 2019
In San Bernardino, several vehicles were reported stuck in a wash near the intersection of North Palm and Institution Road just after 4 p.m.
Firefighters arrived at the scene to find several vehicles stuck in waist-high water and two people who were on an island in the middle of the water flow.
Swift-water rescuers from both the San Bernadino County Sheriff and the county fire department came to scene and a four-member rescue party reached the island. They were removed to dry land by a heavy equipment loader.
The two rescued people declined to go to a hospital after treatment at the scene. There were no injuries to deputies or firefighters, authorities said.
At approximately 2:05 p.m., a large truck made its way into a flooded area near Hallmark Parkway and Lexington Way in San Bernardino, Kern said.
“When fire personnel arrived at the scene, the two people in the truck were uncooperative,” Kern said. “The San Bernardino Police Department came to the scene, but a second truck came to the area, grabbed the two people in the truck and left.”
Staff writer Robert Gundran contributed to this story.